Signs of the season

It's here: The first fresh snow on the mountaintops

Copyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, AK -- The locals call it "termination
dust."
There was fresh power on several mountaintops this morning. More of the aspens don their yellow fall wardrobes every day. Summer is fleeting here, and fleeing now.
Prince Charming had the day off and managed to grab a standby seat on a Wonder Lake shuttle. He came back with these pictures, and perhaps 60 others after an 11-hour day on the road.
I did my usual six-and a half hour run, on a particularly good day. My passengers got to see all of the Denali big five: Moose, bear, caribou, Dall sheep and a wolf that loped down the road ahead of us for two miles before I finally had to pass him. We had passengers on the bus who had trains and buses to catch, and the wolf refused to go more than 5 mph.
I didn't get around him until the third try. The first two times, he looked over his shoulder and then veered in front of the bus, as if he didn't want us to leave.
We also saw a lovely red fox who stole everybody's heart. I dropped off some truly happy tourists at the end of the day.
Alas, I got no pictures. Too busy driving.